1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods and equipment for transmitting electronic mail (e-mail) messages to or from a mobile terminal. More specifically, the present invention relates to a connectivity function for transmitting e-mail messages to and from a mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,378 to Barry Gilhuly et al. discloses a system and method for pushing information, such as e-mail messages, from a host system to a mobile data communication device (mobile terminal). The technique permits e-mail processing at a mobile terminal in addition to a more stationary computer, referred to as a host system in the Gilhuly patent. Specifically, a redirector program operating at the host system enables a user to continuously redirect certain user-selected data items from the host system to the user's mobile data communication device upon detecting that one or more user-defined triggering events has occurred. The redirector program operates in connection with event-generating applications and repackaging systems at the host system to configure and detect a particular user-defined event, and then to repackage the user-selected data items in an electronic wrapper prior to pushing the data items to the mobile device. The mobile data communication device may originate new messages or reply messages to previously received information, such messages being transmitted to a wireless redirector host system, which then transmits a copy of the messages to both the intended recipient and a first electronic mail account associated with the mobile data communication device.
The above-described prior art technique suffers from certain limitations. For example, the host system, such as an office computer, and the mobile terminal require separate e-mail accounts. Some e-mail systems support a forward-type file for forwarding e-mail messages from a first e-mail account to a second e-mail account, but some systems do not support it. It is difficult to set up e-mail systems that do not support such forwarding techniques.
Furthermore, the Gilhuly patent does not address issues that relate to manipulating e-mail messages at the second e-mail account (at the mobile terminal). For instance, it is difficult or impossible to use the terminal to arrange incoming e-mail messages into different folders at the host system. Also, if the terminal user deletes an incoming e-mail message at the terminal, a copy of the deleted message is not present in a “deleted items” folder at the host system, which typically is the case in e-mail systems. Likewise, when the terminal sends an e-mail message, a copy of the message is not added to the host system's “sent items” folder. A further related problem is that e-mail messages that the user has read at the terminal may appear as unread messages at the host system.
Yet another problem is that configuring an e-mail client software at the mobile terminal is difficult because of user interface restrictions in typical mobile terminals.